Amundsen, Nansen, and the question of science: dramatizing historical research on the polar heroic

Recent historical research reveals a much greater role than previously assumed for science in the polar activities of Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. Science-based polar exploration was what first linked these two men; Amundsen's subsequent turn to sport and sensation dampened their relationship. These insights and other new perspectives about heroic period of polar exploration are being transformed by the author into a drama for stage that will have its world premier in Norway in December 2011. The play attempts to use imaginatively the art and craft of theatre to diffuse insight from historical scholarship.